The problem of affordable urban parking has only intensified over the past 10 years. A single parking space in Manhattan can retail for more than $225,000, the price of a sizeable home in some areas of the country. This cost escalation for parking spaces has become pandemic in most urban cities where parking is considered more as an investment property. For those who can’t afford to own that luxury, finding a parking space remains exasperating. For developers, city planners and designers parking continues to be their Achilles’ heel in terms of real estate allotment, design and revenue.

Urban Parking Concepts, located in Wellesley, Mass., has introduced a revolutionary solution for urban parking for U.S. markets: With its patented Automated Parking Storage Facilities (APSF) requiring up to 50% less space to handle the same number of vehicles as conventional ramped parking facilities. For example: the development of a new freestanding 500-space facility requires only 100×100 feet of real estate; while a 1,500-space facility can fit on 180×180 feet.

Urban’s automated parking facilities can be configured around a core cylinder or linear tower. A series of independent moveable vehicle lifts and platform conveyor systems move continually, simultaneously and independently of each other. But the real breakthrough technological ingenuity of these facilities is in how they move.

The patented movement technology, called “Three Motion Technology,” is a vehicle lift system combined with state-of-the-art software which allows simultaneous vehicle movements in three dimensions: vertical, side to side and diagonally. This simultaneous action significantly decreases equipment costs and parking cycle times, while it increases customer convenience and parking space efficiency.

From a design standpoint, the ASPF can be constructed with a closed faÃ§ade, (allowing developers considerable flexibility in design, shape and appearance) or it can be constructed integrally within the development’s footprint. The computer controlled parking system can integrate a number of services such as parking space reservations, traffic control, security and surveillance systems, and locked storage compartments. Because the ASPF is fully automated and no one enters the facility once the car is parked, the damage and security issues normally associated with parking garages are greatly decreased.